In U.S. Pat. No. 5,159,900, one of the inventors herein discloses a rapid oxidation process to produce a gas for use as a fuel from water and carbon. This gas product is created by the decomposition of water or a water-based solution through oxidation. Hydrogen is displaced when a substance is oxidized in water. Rapid oxidation can be forced by using an electrical arc to bum a substance within a biomass feedstock solution, thereby oxidizing the substance by an electro-thermochemical reaction. The result is the rapid formation of a compound of hydrogen and carbon monoxide gas (COH.sub.2).
As discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,159,900, a problem arises in the storage of COH.sub.2 gas, and therefore it is desirable to produce COH.sub.2 gas on an on-demand basis. U.S. Pat. No. 5,159,900 to Wilbur Dammann discloses the use of an electrical arc between two carbon electrodes submersed in water to produce the reaction necessary to rapidly oxidize carbon and produce COH.sub.2 gas.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,817, the inventors disclose a method for producing on-demand generation of gas from water and carbon which continuously replenishes the carbon electrodes from a biomass feedstock, to avoid the need for replacing the electrodes. Among the features disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,817 is a servo drive which adjusts the position of one of the electrodes until the electrodes are at optimum spacing for most efficient operation. Because the movable electrode must be able to move toward or away from the stationary electrode, the mechanism which positions the electrode must work in forward and reverse directions. Furthermore, the mechanism must be able to sense the forward and rearward limits of motion of the electrode. Finally, the mechanism must position the carbon electrodes such that excessive contact pressure is avoided when initially striking the arc.